The Alien Observer

Episode 7 — We talk a lot about changing ourselves and we spend a lot of time waiting for other people to change. But what if the truth is that we never change who we are? What if all the people we are waiting to change are never going to change, either? I’ve been watching others and paying attention to myself long enough to believe that none of us essentially change who we are. We merely develop the maturity and deeper personal understanding to change the way we act. We learn to listen to the better parts of ourselves and refuse to obey the darker parts which will always be hidden inside, whether we like it or not. But we remain the same inside.

Episode 6 — Our culture is intellectually broken. This might not seem important to most people. It might not even seem interesting. But if you can tell that we are somehow off course — in ways that are both large and small — you need to understand that we’re off course because terrible ideas dominate the culture. It’s time for us to stop accepting the idiocy that we are handed by a shallow culture. But until we understand why ideas matter, it’s impossible to know where to start in understanding what’s really happening in a broken and dysfunctional modern culture.

Episode 5 — People all around me seem angry and agitated in ways that they don’t even seem to fully understand. I’ve realized lately that I’ve felt something very much like what existential philosophers called existential angst or dread. It seems as though we have more choices than ever, but we have less confidence than ever before in our ability to make the right choices. I suggest that we’re feeling these ways because we’re focused on the wrong things in life.

Episode 4 — Every single time you get outraged at something in the news media or posted on social media, someone makes some money. These media companies have a vested interest in keeping you outraged — so you’ll keep watching and reading and angrily writing comments. Although this is great for those companies, it’s terrible for the rest of us. It’s doing great damage to this society and it’s doing horrible psychological damage to us as individuals. Isn’t it time that we considered whether Jesus might not have been onto some wisdom when he said we should gouge out an eye if it causes us to stumble? Shouldn’t we be removing things from our lives which are doing this sort of damage to all of us?

Episode 3 — When a major earthquake is coming, there are often many small earthquakes that hit before the big one arrives. They’re like little warnings about what’s coming. That’s what is going on in the United States right now. Big social and political changes start with tiny events. This latest upheaval started with the murder of a black man by a white police officer in Minneapolis. That launched riots and looting and destruction, first in Minneapolis and increasingly in other cities across the country. This is another warning about what’s coming to this country. If you choose to ignore it and assume politicians will eventually fix things, you are placing yourself and your family at great risk. This is a serious warning sign — and it’s time to start thinking about how you’re going to escape.

Episode 2 — I got the news Thursday afternoon that someone I knew had died in his sleep a couple of nights ago. His death left me thinking about how the people around me take care of themselves — or don’t take care of themselves. And it left me thinking about myself and what this tendency toward “slow suicide” says about all of us.

Episode 1 — People are angrily screaming with each other right now about what ought to be done about how much public activity to allow. Some people demand that everything be opened up as before. Others demand that most things remain closed — and most people remain at home — for many more months. Everybody seems convinced that he has the right answer. But the questions which a lot of people aren’t really addressing are which experts ought to be trusted and whether anybody has the right to force everyone else to obey his particular expert.

Introduction — I don’t fit into the warring political and social teams that are fighting to take control of this country. I see the world entirely differently than they do. This show is my attempt to show a different way of looking at the world — and to bridge the gap between people who hate each other and badly misunderstand one another.